coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad: whether from great personal success,
or just an all-night drive, we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen. - john le carre

3. Folks who take the time to put up full MST3K episodes on Youtube. (Not linking because, duh: I don't want anyone backtracked and shut down because of me. But, if you're curious, try Googling "MST3k the sword and the dragon" or "the day the earth froze" and pay attention to the usernames.)

4. John Sheppard/Rodney McKay slash. This is the fandom pairing made of endless bunnies and sunshine and rainbows and I'm not kidding. Want proof? Try this, or this, or, lord love you, this.

Monday, December 19, 2011

1). The Christopher Hitchens love. I won't say I hated him and I'm glad he's dead. But I didn't like him very much and I sure as hell ain't cryin'.

2). The Ryan Gosling 'hey, girl' meme. What the fuck, people. All memes have a certain amount of annoyance built into them, but this is one of the only ones that makes me want to chew glass when I see it. It's not funny. It's not original. Try doing it with cats and maybe I'll want to kick you in the balls less.

3). Companions leave the Doctor, folks, it's how Doctor Who works. Why the news that Amy and Rory are leaving should cause such widespread angst and heartburn -- before they've even left! -- is a mystery to me. Particularly when no-one in the fandom seemed to give much of a shit when the Doctor mind-fucked Donna and left her to her fate. Yeah. Good one, 10.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Depending on your level of involvement in things internet-political and techy, you may or may not be aware of the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) now making its way through congress. Introduced by representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), this bill mandates widespread monitoring of internet activity and has the potential to cause the internets as we know them to be fundamentally altered as blogs and other social networking sites are shut down for supposed acts "piracy." You can read more about the act at the Organization for Transformative Works, TechCrunch, and the American Library Association. The letter Hanna and I sent to our representatives is heavily cribbed from the ALA talking points.

As librarians, bloggers, and registered
voters in Allston, Massachusetts, we are writing to ask you to vote
against the proposed Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA), H.R. 3261.

This bill, if it becomes law, will
cause a widespread “chilling effect” on use of the Internet for
commerce, communication, and participation in democratic society. The
bill strikes at copyright protections currently granted to libraries
and educational institutions by creating the possibility of criminal
persecution of institutions and institutional representatives. for
online streaming and other use of online resources in library and
classroom space. SOPA's requirements to monitor internet traffic
violate free speech and privacy protections and may create new forms
of government surveillance of private activities within and outside
the United States. The predicted consequences of SOPA are
far-reaching. If passed, the potential for new jobs, innovative new
ventures, and economic growth will be stifled.

Citizen engagement in online spaces
depends on the ability to share and discuss a wide variety of media
content across multiple social networking and other Internet
platforms. SOPA will effectively shut down the vibrant creativity and
vital political discourse that has been made possible by the World
Wide Web. On behalf of ourselves, our online community of bloggers, and our library patrons, we ask you to vote against H.R. 3261, and support
alternative ways for protecting legitimate copyright interests
online.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

This past weekend, Hanna and I were up in Maine celebrating an early Christmas with the folks. This involved a lot of good food, a Christmas carols service at nearby Colby College, and the creation of our very own tonttu for the apartment. Tonttu are Finnish house spirits that Hanna's mother learned about from her Finnish parents and grandparents. Here are some photographs that we took of the process of making two tonttus. It took the better part of Sunday morning.

these fellows were our model tonttus

here are some of the supplies Linda provided

We started with a base of cardboard, Styrofoam, and felt

all self-respecting tonttus need hats

Mine is on the left, Hanna's is on the right.

Hanna named hers Ibrahim; mine is named Helga

We brought them back to Boston on Monday to grace our Christmas shelf

While tonttu is the Finnish term for house spirits, some of you may be familiar with the Astrid Lindgren picturebooks which tell the story about a gentle tomten who cares for a family farm in Sweden. This is essentially the same folk character, though seen through the lens of a slightly different Scandinavian tradition.

I hope all of you are finding small and pleasurable ways of preparing for the holiday season ...

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

It has recently been brought to my attention that some people actually take the recommendations and, presumably, the disrecommendations I make on this blog seriously.

I feel a sudden rush of power and blood to the head.

No -- wait, maybe that's just the third cup of coffee kicking in.

So with this in mind, here's my meaningless, completely insignificant recommendation for this week.

You enjoy raunchy, foulmouthed, violent cartoons, right?

Of course you do.

So I have three words for you, my friend:

Tripping the Rift.

All 3 seasons and the movie (not so great, but fun if you get into it and great if you've got a six-pack on hand) are available on Netflix insty and I'm betting that 5-10 minutes of hardcore Youtubing will probably net you the same thing.

Not for the faint of heart or the ready to blush since two of the main characters are Chode McBlob, the deeply profane and irreverent purple captain of Bob, an agoraphobic spaceship, and Six, Chode's feminist sex android.

Seriously, we are talking stripper jokes, sex jokes, drug jokes, alcohol jokes -- if you thought Little Britain was as bad as it gets -- well, okay, you were close but not close enough. There are also enough pop culture references -- visual and verbal -- to keep pretty much anyone happy.

The first episode is called "God is Our Pilot": Chode and his "faithful" android, Gus (think a limp-wristed-er version of Threepio) take a trip back in time and kill God. I mean -- what do you do for the rest of the day, right?

If you're in the mood to kick back and take nothing at all very seriously -- and enjoy a fictional universe where clowns are the evil villains we all know them to be -- then Rift is your new best friend, believe me.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Yesterday, Hanna and I branched out from out usual weekend haunts to try out a new spot for weekend brunch: Athan's Bakery in Washington Square, Brookline. It turned out to be a great place for people watching, reading (Hanna: Freud's letters to Wilhelm Fliess, Anna: The Reactionary Mind by Corey Robin), and nursing our morning espresso. Here are some photos I snapped while we were there.